How Asia’s large stores are fighting back

With supermarkets and hypermarkets expected to lose market share in Asia through to 2030, large-format retailers face a challenging period. Convenience stores continue to expand, whilst online grocery provides an increasingly easy way to complete routine shopping missions.

However, large stores retain one important advantage: space. Leading retailers are using it to provide services, experiences and ranges that smaller stores and online competitors cannot easily replicate. From specialist counters and extensive food-to-go propositions to elevated environments and technology, Asia’s large stores are finding new ways to remain relevant.

Using expertise and services to stand out

Specialist services can differentiate large stores by combining expertise and personal interaction with an extensive grocery range.

At Robinsons in the Philippines, professional butchers and fishmongers support the retailer’s fresh-food credentials. These counters give shoppers access to greater expertise and allow products to be prepared to their requirements, providing personalisation that is difficult to deliver through convenience or online channels.

Elsewhere, retailers are adding theatre to specialist departments. At Lotte in South Korea, shoppers can select a steak and have it cut in front of them. Twelve also uses fruit gifting to turn a familiar category into a premium, service-led proposition.

Large stores can also help shoppers complete multiple tasks during one visit. Postal services, online returns, pharmacies and recycling points can make stores more useful. Retailers should continue looking beyond grocery when considering how their space can address shoppers’ wider needs.

Food-to-go: offering greater choice

Asia’s convenience stores are recognised for strong food-to-go ranges, but large stores have the space to deliver a broader proposition. Multiple cuisines, fresh counters, third-party partnerships and dine-in areas can combine to make the store a food destination.

Life Supermarket’s Oshiage store in Japan provides an extensive selection of prepared meals and meal solutions across different missions and occasions. The breadth of the proposition includes a premium buffet and gelato stand, making food-to-go a major part of the experience rather than simply an additional category.

Tops Food Hall in Thailand also demonstrates the opportunity. Alongside food-to-go options, the destination includes a food court and multiple dine-in areas, including fresh pizza and deli sandwiches. Shoppers can combine grocery shopping with eating and socialising, encouraging them to spend longer in-store.

Large stores should use their additional space to provide the breadth, freshness and choice that smaller formats cannot easily match.

Creating places shoppers want to visit

Large stores must become places where shoppers actively want to spend time. This requires retailers to consider the overall environment, not simply what’s on the shelves.

Tops Food Hall Central Park in Thailand shows how premium presentation and an elevated atmosphere can make grocery shopping more engaging. Strong merchandising, specialist departments and foodservice position the store as a destination for discovery and inspiration.

Twelve in South Korea takes a similarly premium approach. Its features range from a basket disinfection station to luxury seating, a smoothie bar, coffee and a Moët vending machine. Lots of staff members are also on-hand to support shoppers creating a personalised shopping experience.

Although not every retailer can replicate this level of investment, Twelve demonstrates how service, comfort and theatre can improve perceptions of a large store.

Lotus Bangna in Thailand has a large screen near its children’s section, creating opportunities for events and activities. Features like this can help stores engage local communities while giving families another reason to visit.

Ultimately, making stores enjoyable places to spend time gives shoppers a reason to stay longer and, crucially, return.

Using tech to remove friction

Technology can address one of the weaknesses of large stores: they can take longer to navigate and shop than smaller formats.

FairPrice Finest’s Punggol Digital District store in Singapore shows how digital features can be integrated into a modern supermarket. The priority should be making the journey easier and more convenient without allowing technology to overwhelm the wider experience.

Smart carts, digital navigation, relevant communication and faster checkout options can all reduce friction. Whilst features like smart phone enabled wine recommendations and an AI health & wellness guru offer tech-enabled premiumisation.

Retailers should focus investment on technology that solves a clear shopper problem and improves the shopping experience, rather than introducing innovation for its own sake.

Winning with range

Range remains another major advantage. Large stores can provide greater choice across fresh, premium, imported and specialist products, creating opportunities for discovery that are more limited in convenience stores.

However, carrying more products is not enough. Retailers must build ranges that are relevant to local shoppers and clearly communicate what makes them distinctive. Exclusive products, local specialities and carefully curated assortments can provide stronger reasons to visit.

Giving shoppers a reason to return

Convenience and online will continue to challenge supermarkets and hypermarkets across Asia, meaning large stores cannot rely on scale alone. They must give shoppers clear and compelling reasons to make the trip.

The strongest examples use space more effectively, combining specialist services, extensive food-to-go, engaging environments, useful technology and differentiated ranges. By turning stores into places where shoppers can eat, discover products, access expertise and complete multiple tasks, retailers can move beyond the traditional one-stop-shop model. Large stores may continue to lose share, but those that become genuinely useful and enjoyable destinations will be better placed to defend their role in Asia’s evolving grocery market.